Huckaby: Poverty shouldn't be invisible

Thursday

Aug 7, 2008 at 11:30 PM

Lolita Huckaby

BEAUFORT, S.C. - Not many Americans chose to visit so-called "pockets of poverty" on their vacations, but charitable-minded people pile into vans or cars every summer and head to places off the beaten path.

Such was my case recently as I traveled north to West Virginia along with two dozen members from my church.

I say "pockets of poverty" because that's what you find in isolated valleys or mountain tops in West Virginia, an hour south of Charleston, W.Va., in Fayette County in a town called Montgomery, which has a population of less than 2,000.

Small businesses there are now predominately boarded up. Signs that say "for rent" or "for sale" are taped to the windows, even though this community is home to a branch of the West Virginia university system.

We were there to help people who needed help. After we got over the beauty of those tree-covered mountains and the rocky rivers, we quickly found there were plenty in that category.

This area is part of the West Virginia coal-mining belt. It has seen better days, like so many industrial locations. Many of the people who haven't moved away, looking for a better life, are struggling to make ends meet.

We spent a week on a mountain-top putting a new roof and porch on a 50-year-old home that had seen better days. Shoddy installation of vinyl siding had allowed rain from a leaking roof to collect and turn the wooden exterior and support beams to mush. Our team of amateur construction workers did what we could and left the homeowners with what we hoped would be a more comfortable structure.

Why did we travel nine hours on I-77 lined with vacationing families returning from a week on Hilton Head Island to battle against poverty when we can find it here, in our own Lowcountry backyards? Some people on the trip asked that questio. But the answer was obvious, at least to me.

It's important to leave your comfortable surroundings and take a look at what other people experience. You can drive down streets in your own hometown every day and not notice the house with a sagging roof and be completely oblivious to the family inside who may be living off macaroni and cheese.

West Virginia, according to the U.S. Census, has the tenth highest level of poverty in this country. Compare that to Beaufort County, S.C. It has the highest per capita personal income in South Carolina, a figure we all know is skewed by the number of retirees who have moved into the area.

While West Virginia hasn't been "discovered" like the coastal areas of the Southeast or the mountains of North Carolina, its economy benefits from outdoor enthusiasts who are delighting in the state's mountain hiking, camping and white-water rafting experiences. West Virginia, like the Lowcountry, is becoming increasingly reliant on tourists.

We forget how many popular vacation spots do have impoverished populations; we just don't see them when we look for exotic beaches, colorful sunsets, historic ruins or breath-taking scenic views.

We stay off the back-streets, away from the realities of a neighborhood that might remind us we're all not so different at all.

Lolita Huckaby lives in Beaufort and is co-editor of Beaufort Today. She can be reached at bftbay@charter.net